Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support local commissioning bodies during dental contract reforms.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment.

NHS planning guidance for 2025/26 confirms that dental budgets are ringfenced, and that improving access to urgent dental appointments is a key national priority. Careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession, and so that ICBs are supported to commission services in line with system changes.

NHS England supports ICBs with their local commissioning responsibilities for primary dental services with the provision of nationally agreed policies and procedures. NHS England has also published guidance to support commissioners to take advantage of the opportunities offered to commission further and additional services through flexible commissioning, which enables the responsible commissioner to tailor services to meet local population oral health needs. Further information can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/opportunities-for-flexible-commissioning-in-primary-care-dentistry-a-framework-for-commissioners/

We are continuing to meet representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients